The Alchemy of Dreams

Alchemy: any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value

It was two days before my 30th birthday.

I had finally found this cafe that everyone in Ubud was talking about: Alchemy.

Raw food was still quite new to the health scene 3,5 years ago, so I was eager to find out what the buzz was about.

I don’t remember the food much, but I remember the atmosphere, and I remember the people.

I remember seeing this woman, dressed in a lime-green breezy cotton-dress, simple gold jewelry and sandals and long, blond hair down on her back. She was chatting with her girlfriends while her kids were playing with the cushions. She looked relaxed and fit right into the bohemian decor of the cafe.

And I remember the chord it struck in me: I want that life.

I want to walk around in long dresses and sandals. I want to eat healthy, organic food. I want to seek shelter in the shade on warm summer days, and spend long, lazy afternoons with friends and family.

I want a lifestyle where love is my priority and happiness my business.

I spent a month in Bali and another six months traveling in Asia, India and Africa. I went back to Scandinavia and I continued my work in hospitality and service another two years.

I had a good life in Norway. A good job, a good social life, an exercise routine, weekend trips around Europe and lots of quality time back home in Sweden. I even had a good relationship. I was in love and had no real complaints.

But something was missing.

Something my boyfriend at the time was not a part of. Seeds I had planted long before his time, that were beginning to sprout.

And I knew I had to leave it all behind.

You see, the woman I saw at Alchemy was a future version of me, just like the house in Cape Town I walked into in 2008, with its bright, spacious kitchen and windows facing the sea, is a version of my future home.

We catch glimpses of our dreams all the time.

It can be a house, a dog, a beach.

It can be a perfectly tailored suit or a simple, white cotton dress.

It doesn’t matter what it is, but what it does to us: it stirs a sense of belonging.

The problem is, we are afraid of what we really want.

But if we can feel the fear, and do it anyway, as Susan Jeffers encourages us, or if we truly embrace that everything we want is on the other side of fear like Jack Canfield said, then maybe fear can become an indication, that there is something more to explore.

And I can tell you, catching myself here, in a green dress and sandals, at the newly re-opened Alchemy Cafe, writing this as my first post for my Happiness Coaching Business, with a huge smile on my face: